Elements of Teaching

Teaching Philosophy: As a doctoral student, I have had the opportunity to engage in a number of different teaching situations.  My goal is to develop the creative voice of my students, a voice that responds critically to those around them and to those past authors whose works they engage with.  My first teaching experiences involved the teaching of improv to university students.  As a result, I see the value of encouraging the spontaneous flow of ideas to be honed through dialogue with others.  Debate, for me, is one of the key ingredients in classroom interacti on. My students learn to think on their feet, to quickly evaluate and test critical arguments, and,most importantly, to develop their ability to communicate  effectively - a skill important to the academic conference or the business boardroom. As a textual scholar, I believe that the physical form of literature plays an integral part in the way that we interact with texts.  I encourage my students to see the media around them as a kind of lens that filters information in specific ways.  My methodology involves introducing a number of different forms of texts: website, books, manuscripts, printed editions, hypertext editions, and the like.  Furthermore, short editing projects allow students to realize the thought processes that go into the creation and presentation of words on a page (or screen).  Learning should be as sensory an experience as reading, and I enjoy finding ways to encourage students to interact with texts through a variety of technologies. Teaching, for me, is synonymous with learning. As much as I wish to inspire my students, I get an equal thrill when my students inspire me. Teaching Materials: (See attached files)